The Banana Is Taking Over Korean Food, Snacks, And Life

Jan 27, 2017 - by cariclark

It’s banana-everything! You could say that Koreans are going … apples over it.

by Cari Kamja

Korean food culture is notorious for falling in love with something … and then taking to a whole ‘nother, slightly insane, level. Recently, that ‘something’ is banana, which has quickly taken over honey butter’s top spot as the hot new flavor.

You can find things you’d never imagine could be flavored with banana now, and every day something new is added.

Here are just a few common foods that are suddenly tasting a little…bananas.

Drinks

If you’re part of the Snackfever family, you probably are familiar with Banana Milk. It’s been popular in Korea for decades and is the favorite snack of idols like SHINee’s Taemin and VIXX’s N. So it’s really no surprise to see banana milk on the shelves. But of course, it gets weirder from here on out.

A photo posted by SnackFever (@snack.fever) on May 9, 2016 at 5:48pm PDT

You know a flavor is trendy when the famous Choco Pie introduces a new version of its delicious little cakes. The banana-flavored Choco Pie and Oh Yes! Cakes were flying off the shelves almost as fast as Honey Butter Chips were. The mix of chocolate and banana is absolutely amazing!

Then, because Korea is also going through a small obsession with jellies, they made some banana jelly snacks that would rule the world. Putting two snack trends together made these jellies fly off the shelves!

Now I can understand banana sweets like jellies, choco pies, and even almonds, but I must warn you that what follows on this list may blow your mind. To prove that these exist, we have Hotward here holding a bag. Believe us now?!

A photo posted by SnackFever (@snack.fever) on Jan 18, 2017 at 5:59pm PST

Banana Kick has been around for a while, but with the recent banana craze they are back on the shelves all over Korea.

Imagine a cheese puff, now switch the cheese for banana flavoring. Voila, you have a Banana Kick. If you’re really lucky you can also find these guys in green tea or chocolate flavor, but classic banana is the way to go.

For the over-21 (or 18 in Korea) crowd, you can get your banana fix with some makgeolli. This rice wine is famous in Korea and comes in a billion different flavors, but there is a new member of the makgeolli club.

Okay, I think you guys get it now. Korea has officially gone bananas for this flavor and I can’t wait to see what else the snack lords can possibly whip up next.

I think we’re all a little banana-ed out now, so I will leave you with this giant banana-flavored cotton candy Ryan head, and will point you in the direction of the SnackFever Shop where you, too, can go bananas.